Be it faux-hawks, dancing, or the city of Florence, the cast members of "Jersey Shore" love to declare everything their "best thing". Here are some of MY Best Things.
Credit goes to roomie Jina for alerting me to this, my new official favorite book (though I haven't read it yet): I Could Pee On This: And Other Poems By Cats An excerpt:
In cast you were not aware, the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam is back. My boss has been out of town this week, and while I have actually been pretty productive, every spare moment has been spent watching these adorable furballs. Good thing they sleep a lot or else I wouldn't have gotten anything done. Here's the link, but I should warn you: PUPPY WATCHING IS HIGHLY ADDICTIVE - CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK!
I imagine I've now lost most of my readers to the Puppy Cam. I don't blame them. But for those of you still reading this blog post, you shall be rewarded with a somewhat random, but hopefully highly delightful, collection of videos, pictures, and posts of the heartwarming and/or adorable and/or funny and/or beautiful and/or sexy varieties (trust me, just read on - and open the links in new tabs/windows so you can check 'em all out).
Let us begin with heartwarming and adorable, shall we?
First up: humans. Shocking, I know, but I dare you not to smile and/or tear up a little over these two collections:
During my lengthy absence from posting, I came across a number of compelling articles and links concerning our natural world and our animal cohabitants. The theme is constant: We must take responsibility for the changes we've incurred on our planet and we must do better going forward. I agree.
I've shared a few that have really resonated with me below.
For starters, NASA released a photo gallery of images depicting climate change and other human impact on the Earth. The photos compare the same site over a period of many years and show the effects of ice melt, flooding, deforestation, urban growth, fires, etc. It's pretty fascinating... and a little bit terrifying. Here is one example (Muir Glacier in 1941 vs. 2004):
(Both of these images were taken in August, BTW, so this is not a seasonal melt)
Check out the rest of the incredible photos here.
Secondly, I've noticed that certain organizations have been calling in the big guns lately. And by big guns I mean A-list actors who will narrate videos for them.
This video, which is narrated by Jeff Goldblum, is a fundraising video for Oceana. Their message is clear: the gross (and illegal) overfishing needs to end, and they intend to stop it. They just need support. The underwater photography is so beautiful, that I recommend taking a look just for that:
If you now feel compelled to contribute, you may do so here. You can also keep up with Oceana is up to by following them on Facebook here. I personally believe that the work they're doing is of utmost importance to the survival of our planet's ecosystem. On a related note, (and I think I may have linked to this before) for more information on which fish to eat, click here.
Alec Baldwin has lent his handsome face and that breathy (?) voice for this video for PETA:
Here's the thing, I'm not a huge PETA fan. I don't agree with a lot of their tactics - I feel that they often target the wrong person/group and rely too much on sensationalism. But the fact that this is still going on is revolting, and I'm glad PETA is bringing attention to it. When I was a kid, visiting the zoos, the circus, and Sea World were all great delights to me. As I've gotten older, I've come to find such places somewhat depressing, and, sometimes, disturbing. It saddens me to see animals that are used to roaming continents and oceans being confined to enclosures and tanks. But even worse is when animals in captivity aren't treated properly.
If you now feel compelled to support PETA you may do so here. You can also take action on their campaigns here.
And finally, I just wanted to quickly mention that the LA Super Adoption I volunteered at a few weeks ago was a huge success! The grand total of adopted/rescued animals was 361 - hooray! And while this might seem counter-intuitive, I DIDN'T come home with another animal (I was really close to adopting a 3 month old red pittie-basenji mix puppy) so that's good news for my cat and my roommates and my stress level.
If you come to this blog regularly you may have noticed that it's been a while since I last posted. You may recall that my cat Aslan, who I wrote about and posted photos of here, had been having some health issues recently. Figuring out what's been going on with him has taken all of my energy over the last few weeks, and I've honestly been too drained and distracted to write.
For those who are interested, it turns out that his kidneys are failing, or, in vet-speak, has Chronic Renal Failure (CRF). The journey of how we got here is too exhausting for me to retell at the moment. Suffice it to say I've spent A LOT of money, cried A LOT of tears, and am just starting to come to terms with the fact that Aslan is now, officially, a special needs cat.
Up until recently, a bowl of yummy food, a clean box, and a few toys were all it took to keep him happy. This came out to about $450 a year.
Now he's on special kidney food, pills for high blood pressure, fish oil supplements and craziest of all - fluids which I have to give him by needle under his skin every night. All this plus the extra vet visits and tests, and the extra litter (we're going through it twice as fast), is going to put me out about $2800 annually.
It's completely worth it of course - he is essentially my child, and I will do anything I can to ensure his quality of life is as good as it can be. I'll just have to make some adjustments to my spending habits. I'm actually not a huge spender in general, but I will just need to be extra frugal whenever possible. Friends have come and gone in my life, but Aslan has been my constant companion for the last six and a half years. The least I can do in return is take the best possible care of him.
I hope to get some new posts up soon. I have lots of fun, interesting, silly, and heartwarming stuff to share with you. But first I need to get settled into my new routine with Azzie-Pants. He was a total champ when I gave him his fluids last night - it was my first time doing it without a vet tech assisting and I was so nervous. But he barely flinched and I can already tell that it's making a difference. Thank goodness.
In the meantime, if you care to send good thoughts our way, we'll gladly take them! And for anyone curious about what happens when you give a cat fluids, see below:
This Saturday I'm volunteering at the Los Angeles Pet Super Adoption being put on by Best Friends.
If you are:
a) Interested in adopting a pet: This event is FOR YOU!! There will be hundreds of animals for you to meet (from both city shelters and rescue groups), and lots of humans to tell you all about them. See the flier below and come on by!!
b) Interested in helping out with the event: ***THEY STILL NEED LOTS OF HELP!*** Please click here for more information and/or to sign up. My shift is Saturday morning, 7 am - 2 pm. If you're willing to get up that early, I would love the company!!
c) Interested in stopping by just for moral support: Please do! As mentioned above, I'll be there until 2 in the afternoon. It's supposed to be in the 70's and sunny - a perfect day for an outdoor outing!
His name is Aslan, but I mainly call him Az, Az-man, Booger, Stinkie, Catface, Jazzie, etc. I adopted him as a kitten in the fall of 2005 - a few days after Lesli, my roommate at the time, adopted a kitten, a little tuxedo girl whom she named Claire. Here they are as babies:
For the first few years we took both cats to Dr. Jordan, a warm, experienced, soft-spoken vet with the largest hands I have ever seen. The clinic was a grand total of 1.3 miles from our apartment, but let me tell you - driving even that distance with Aslan in the carrier could be classified as cruel and unusual punishment. FOR ME. The sounds coming from that little fur-ball were like nothing you've ever heard.
Two moves later, Dr. Jordan's office is WAYYYY too far to take Aslan for an appointment, even on the weekends without traffic. But I'll come back to that in a minute.
Aslan is now the sole animal of the house, and he has us all wrapped around his not-so-little paws. Even Dave, who likes to pretend that he and Az don't get along, has been known to have a snuggle session with Aslan when he thinks nobody's watching. When we moved from the Castle to the Manor Aslan emerged from his hiding place in just a few hours (as opposed to days after the last move). I think he enjoys having multiple housemates (especially ones that let him drink out of their glasses - HIS BEST THING EVER IN LIFE) and many rooms to run around in.
Over the last few weeks Aslan has developed the unfortunate behavior of peeing just outside his litter box. If you're a cat person I know what you're thinking: yes, there is a cover on his box, but he's had a cover over his box since I first brought him home and it hasn't been a problem thus far. And also, no, I don't buy the same brand of litter each time, but again, I've been doing this for the 6.5 years I've had him and it's never been an issue. Because nothing I was doing (trying to play with him more, buying him new toys, cleaning the litter box better & more frequently, etc.) was helping, I decided before I left for Cleveland that I would take him to the vet this coming weekend. But when I woke up this morning to find his 3rd accident in 24 hours, I decided to call the vet that Google Maps told me was the closest to my house, and they said to bring him in right away.
So out came the carrier and the adventure began. The following two hours consisted mainly of excessive shedding on Aslan's part, excessive sweating on my part, lots of surprisingly calm dogs in the waiting area, an exam by a lovely vet named Dr. Thorrens that included a urine test, 5 minutes of the loudest meowing you've ever heard each way in the car, and a $240 bill. End result? He probably (though not definitely) has a urinary tract infection.
The good news: part of the prescribed treatment is to feed him a special wet food mixed with antibiotics. To Aslan wet food is basically crack (but considering how much this special wet food cost me, crack might have been cheaper). At least I know I won't have any problems getting him to take it.
Dr. Thorrens said to give him the meds twice a day for a week. Hopefully they'll help, but I'm supposed to check back in with her either way. Keep your fingers crossed - I really don't want to have to bring him back in!!
Either way I'm flying to Cleveland tonight to celebrate Passover with my family. I'm super looking forward to seeing everyone....... and getting my hair cut WOOOOHOOO (yeah, that's right). Meanwhile, many of you will celebrating Easter on Sunday.
Here are some of the other things the two holidays have in common:
Hiding/Finding Things (the Afikomen / eggs)
A Feast/Large Meal with Family (OK, that's just about every holiday)
Eggs (eating (LOTS of them) / painting/hiding them)
Spring/Rebirth Themes
Personal Suffering (Lent / The Fast of the First Born)
Which reminds me - I am a First Born so technically I shouldn't be eating tomorrow. But it's my only chance to get Dunkin' Donuts before actual Passover starts!!! What's a girl (who lives in a city without Dunkin') to do?!?!
in case you're wondering, those are filled with cheesecake
Whichever holiday you're celebrating, I hope it's lovely!
Aslan is now the sole animal of the house, and he has us all wrapped around his not-so-little paws. Even Dave, who likes to pretend that he and Az don't get along, has been known to have a snuggle session with Aslan when he thinks nobody's watching. When we moved from the Castle to the Manor Aslan emerged from his hiding place in just a few hours (as opposed to days after the last move). I think he enjoys having multiple housemates (especially ones that let him drink out of their glasses - HIS BEST THING EVER IN LIFE) and many rooms to run around in.
